


Christmas Lights

by purplestripe66



Category: Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:12:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplestripe66/pseuds/purplestripe66
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Astronema is intrigued by the strange lights and decorations put up in Angel Grove.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Originally wrote this fic some time ago, edited a bit for the repost but I kept the story itself the same. And no, I do not now, nor have I ever owned Power Rangers. Maybe sometime in the future. Or in my dreams...

Astronema watched the rangers on her viewscreen. They where shopping. At least the Earth rangers where. The Red and Silver Rangers were no where to be found. *They must still be on their ship,* she thought to herself.

She pressed a button on the main consule that made the view on the screen widen to include the entire courtyard of the outdoor mall. She had seen this place before, many times. It was an important gathering place on Earth. And the Pink and Yellow Rangers spent a good deal of time there.

But now it looked different. All over the courtyard, and she assumed inside the stores as well, were decorations. Red and green garlands, huge bells, plastic snowflakes, and a giant decorated pine tree in the center of it all.

Astronema turned up the volume so she could hear what the rangers where saying.

"Who do you have left?" the Pink Ranger asked.

"Let's see," the Yellow Ranger pulled out a list from her pocket. "Um, my grandmother, my uncle Steve, and Betty."

"Who's Betty?" the Black Ranger asked.

"She's a girl who used to be in my dance class. She doesn't really have any family besides her foster parents so I want to get her something."

"Aw, that's nice," the Pink Ranger said.

"Well I'm done with my shopping," the Black Ranger told them, holding his bags up triumphantly.

"Oh no you're not!" the Yellow Ranger exclaimed.

"I'm not?" he asked confused.

"Not until I see what you got. I'm not letting you get anyone a fire extinguisher for Christmas."

*Christmas,* Astronema thought. *I've heard that before.*

"I still say that everyone needs one," the Black Ranger protested.

"Whatever," the Yellow Ranger rolled her eyes. "What about you TJ? You've been awfully quiet lately."

"I'm just trying to figure out what to get Melissa."

"Astronema," Ecliptor's voice said from behind her.

Astronema spun around quickly. She hadn't even heard him come in. "What is it?" she snapped. She was angry at herself for letting her guard down like that. It could have easily been one of her enemies that had snuck up on her instead of Ecliptor. She made a mental note to increase the number of guards around the Dark Fortress.

"My Princess, do you wish to go over your new plan of attack?"

Astronema glanced back at the screen that still showed the rangers. She was curious about them, but she couldn't very well neglect her duties for the sake of curiosity. "Yes," she said pressing a button to turn of the view screen, "let's go."

***

That evening, Astronema sat in her room staring out the window like she did so often. She loved the stars. They were her home. The only home she had ever known. She knew she had lived on a planet, somewhere, sometime, with her parents...and her brother. But that was long ago. A lifetime. She couldn't even remember her life before Ecliptor had taken her in. 

Since then, she had lived on one ship or another. Always traveling amongst the stars. And although they changed depending on where in the universe she was, they were always there. She could always turn to them.

Somehow, tonight she couldn't help thinking about the rangers and their planet. Something was going on down there. And she wanted to know what. Astronema stood up from her window seat, teleporting herself down to an alley in Angel Grove Mall. As soon as the sparks faded, she noticed music playing from the courtyard. Curious, she looked out from the alley. The sight in front of her was amazing. The entire courtyard was lit up with tiny lights. The garlands that she had seen earlier, wrapped around lamp posts and stair railings, draped over doorways, and even strung between the buildings concealed the lights. The tree in the center of the courtyard was also lit up with lights.

Astronema quickly ducked back into the alley as she heard someone coming. As she waited for them to pass, she realized that she would draw way too much attention if she went out there. She waved her arm across her body, transforming her black body suit into a pale green blouse with a brown jacket with faux fur trim and matching pants. Her hair also transformed from the long blue curls she now wore, into a short blond style.

She smiled to herself, then quickly glanced outside the alley before stepping out into the courtyard. As she looked around, she noticed that there where even more lights than she had thought at first. In addition to the lights hidden in the garlands, there were also lights along the roofs, around the trunks of trees and in the branches, even lining the insides of the many windows.

Astronema stopped at the nearest window, looking in. The display inside seemed to have the same theme as the decorations in the courtyard. There were a few toy bears wearing red or green bows, a couple of dolls, and some toy robots. A miniature train was circling the entire display. Along the train track were miniature houses, trees, and even cotton laid on the ground that Astronema was sure was meant to represent snow. In addition to the toys, there was a small decorated tree and colorful boxes tied with bows and there where stickers of bows, leaves, and bells on the window itself.

She smiled a little sadly looking at all the toys. They reminded her of the childhood that she missed out on. She had never had time for toys or fun. Ecliptor had made her spend all of her time either training to fight or studying, for as long as she could remember. She supposed that she was grateful for that now, but she still wondered what her life would have been like if her family had never been destroyed.

She looked past the elaborate display and into the store. There were entire shelves of toys lined up in isles all over the store. Something inside caught her eye. Without thinking, she went to the door and inside the store. Immediately she noticed that there were more people inside than she had first thought. She scanned them quickly debating whether any of them were a threat. She had learned quickly how to spot potential enemies, but everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their own business, so she kept walking to what had drawn her attention.

Absently, she noticed that the music was different in here than it had been in the courtyard. It was livelier, and there were lyrics to it. She briefly wondered who "Santa Claus" was.

She reached the shelf that had caught her attention. After a minute, she picked up one of the small, spiky, multicolored balls. Without even thinking about it, she let go, watching it expand as it hovered in front of her. She remembered this. Astronema quickly grabbed the ball and spun around as she felt someone coming up behind her.

"Hi," a long haired blond girl said cheerfully, "can I help you find something?"

Astronema eyed her suspiciously for a moment. She was wearing tan pants with a green shirt and a red vest. It didn't take her long to realize that she must work in this store.

"No, I'm just...looking."

"Ok then, let me know if you need any help," the girl said brightly walking away.

Astronema watched her leave before turning her attention back to the ball. It had hovered, right in front of her. She turned it around in her hands, expanding it manually. There was no motor, no electronics of any kind. She had known that. But she hadn't used her magic to make it happen. How had it hovered like that?

Astronema didn't like not knowing something. Especially something that involved her. She collapsed the ball again and looked around the store. She could easily just teleport out, or simply leave with it, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself. There was a counter at the front of the store that appeared to be the place to purchase items.

She walked over to it, wondering what Earth currency looked like. Luckily, there were a couple of people in line in front of her so she had a chance to see what she needed. She turned the ball around, remembering seeing a tag on it, $9.99. She knew that must be the price, but it meant nothing to her. She examined the paper bill the man in front of her had carefully. Astronema put the ball down on the counter when he walked away.

"Hello, how are you this evening?" the girl at the register asked.

Astronema looked at her, wondering why everyone was being so nice. "Fine," she said uncertainly. A woman had come up behind her, waiting to pay for her items. She glanced at her to asses if the woman was a threat or not. She smiled warmly at her when Astronema met her eyes. She looked away quickly. She wasn't used to this. No one was ever nice to her.

"That'll be $10.84" the girl at the counter said smiling.

Astronema reached into her pocket recreating the paper bill she had seen. She pulled it out of her pocket placing it on the counter.

"Out of twenty," the girl said doing something at the register.

Astronema wondered what the extra fee was for while she waited.

"There's your receipt, and $9.16 is your change," said the girl handing her a few bills and some coins and the ball in a plastic bag. Astronema looked at the currency wondering what she should do with it. She dropped it in her pocket taking the bag. "Merry Christmas!" the girl at the counter said as she turned away.

Astronema glanced back at her over her shoulder as she walked out of the store. *Is this really how people on Earth treat each other?* she wondered. She looked back towards the alley, thinking that she should probably get back before anyone missed her, but she wanted to get a closer look at that tree first.

It surprised her how much all of this fascinated her. But it was beautiful. She looked around her as she slowly walked towards the tree. The small white lights sparkled almost like stars. Astronema stopped at the tree listening to the music. It was being played by four people, wearing matching red and white hats, standing nearby. A soft but happy melody, she thought it suited the night.

The tree was larger than she had thought. It was at least six meters tall. White lights were twirled around it, intertwined within the branches. Red, silver, and white round glass ornaments were hung around the tree. Glass icicles and large plastic snowflakes covered with glitter also hung on the tree. The silver ornaments and snowflakes reflected the lights on the tree and the icicles scattered it in a prism effect. On the top of the tree was a shining multi colored star.

She turned quickly hearing someone approaching. "Merry Christmas," a woman dressed in red said holding something out to her. She wore the same red and white hat as the musicians.

Astronema looked at her for a minute before carefully reaching out to take what she was holding out. The woman smiled walking past her to a couple admiring the tree. She handed them something as well. She looked down at the object in her hand. It was a red and white stick curved at the end wrapped in plastic. It looked like some kind of candy. She glanced at the couple who were already eating their candy. None of it made any sense. Why were these complete strangers being nice to each other?

She shook her head tucking the candy in her pocket, and with one last glance at the tree headed for the nearest alley to teleport back to the Dark Fortress.

***

A few hours later, Astronema lay on her bed spinning the ball in the air without touching it. It had taken her a while to figure out how to do it again, but now it was easy. She had to concentrate harder if she wanted to make the ball do anything but spin, but just making it hover was easy.

It was telekinesis. She had denied it at first, but it had to be. She had no idea she could do that. Telekinesis was a learned skill, but Ecliptor had certainly never taught her. She must have learned it back on her home planet. There weren't a lot of planets that practiced telekinesis. That significantly increased her chances of finding out where she was from.

The Red Ranger used telekinesis, didn't he? Astronema blinked and the ball collapsed falling on her chest. What had made that thought come into her head? She tried to remember if she had ever seen him use telekinesis before. She honestly didn't remember. But how else would she know that?

She laughed at herself a little bitterly, *maybe I'm suddenly telepathic too.* A part of her wished she had never gone down to Earth tonight. It had been so strange. But another part was glad that she had. Astronema didn't understand her odd attraction to the multicolored ball, or the fragments of strange memories that came with it. She especially didn't understand her new found telekinesis. But she doubted she could figure any of it out tonight.

She sighed as she sat up, manually twirling the sphere in her lap as she glanced towards the window. Earth was just coming into view as the Dark Fortress spun in space. The cities shined brightly on the dark side of the planet, reminding her of the twinkling lights in the mall. *Merry Christmas,* she thought to herself, still unsure of what it meant, but she decided she liked the sound of it.


End file.
